Goodbye 2012, Welcome 2013!

Happy New Year Everyone! As we say goodbye to 2012 and usher in the New Year, I've been reflecting on the past twelve months as I often do at this time of year. There are so many things that I'm thankful for that occurred in this past year but also some disappointments too, usually the result of lack of discipline or focus on my part. In December I started challenging myself in new ways to prepare for the New Year.  For example, I took 6 straight days of yoga classes (something I have never done before) with hubby attending the last one with me. He usually does yoga at his own gym so it was nice to have him as my 'guest' and work out together side-by-side. I typically go to yoga twice per week but never back to back days. As my membership to my local studio was quickly about to expire it was the perfect time to prove to myself that I could push through even when I was tired and did not feel like going. I feel so much better when I exercise every day so that helped re-establish an important daily ritual for me in 2013.

I encourage you to find something that you enjoy or even something new you've wanted to try and challenge yourself. Do you love running? Why not run every single day even if it's for 15 minutes, consistency is more important than distance. Maybe you're committing to better overall health this year including what you eat? Set aside the time to make homemade breakfast, lunch and dinner from scratch for a week and see how you feel! The smaller accomplishments always lead to bigger ones. For this reason I'm not a fan of  typical 'New Year's Resolutions' as people always declare grandiose changes for the new year that they often cannot attain. Starting small and working your way to bigger challenges gives you a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment that will continue to propel you in a positive direction.

Sometimes circumstances can bring us down and then we tend to associate those negative feelings with that particular year, deeming a certain year as good or bad as I've heard many people say about this past year. I try hard not to do that because our year or even this very day is what we make of it and out thoughts are the beginning of what we'll see come to fruition. In order to change our reality we need to change our thoughts. If we think it will be a bad year, it will. If we believe the new year holds great opportunities, it will!

For the past few weeks I've really been feeling as though 2013 will be MY year! Maybe it sounds silly, but I've never felt this way before and I'm really excited about it! Good things have already begun happening and it's as if everything that I've been working towards will finally come together this year. If you feel the same, declare it for yourself! The past fears that have held me back from achieving all that I've dreamed for myself will no longer stand in my way. I have my eyes on the prize and I just know the next twelve months will be filled with unwavering focus, determination and hard work but anything worth having is work that kind of dedication. I have some exciting things that I've been working on and can't wait to share with you in the coming months!

Each year, aside from business, financial, health/fitness and travel goals I'm looking to achieve, I also like to look at the areas of myself that I'd like to work on. Personal Growth is very important to me and there are some aspects of me that I need to polish. Without going into great detail, here are five of the specific areas I'd like to grow in this year.

1. Become a more patient person both with others and myself.

2. Stop pre-judging how an event or opportunity might play out and just go with the flow (in other words stop over-analyzing and enjoy the present moment).

3. Compare myself only with my past performance and not with others. After all, everyone's path is different.

4. Be more spontaneous! I'm a planner and this is always hard for me but one thing I know for sure is that my most joyful moments are when I'm doing something new, unexpected and spontaneous.

5. Add more discipline and structure into my life. One of the greatest things about being self-employed is that you can make your own schedule and often work from the comfort of your own home. While I've always been a disciplined and driven person, it's easy to fritter away time on projects that really aren't important sometimes, I think it's just the nature of working from a home office, or maybe it's just me. I have been lax in writing a daily schedule which makes it difficult to stay on track, but that's all about to change!

Are you excited about 2013? What goals or personal growth areas are challenging yourself with this year? I'd love to hear what's important to you to make this your best year yet!

Thanks for stopping by!

XO




image credits (1), (2)

A Fresh Start

One of the things I enjoy most about ringing in the new year is the fresh beginning it provides. Every year on New Year's Eve day I reflect on my most proud accomplishments, the things I really enjoyed spending my time doing most as well as my goals that never came to be so I can figure out how to make them a reality the next time around. I think it's important to celebrate our successes but also learn from our mistakes so we can plan better for the future. As Oprah and Maya Angelou always say, "When we know better, we do better".

This year has been an interesting one, I've learned more about myself in this past year than I probably have in the last five. It is the first full year I spent alone in our home as my hubby pursued his Master's degree several states away at NYU. With that brought both challenges and triumphs as I realized many areas in which I was stronger than I knew myself to be. It also presented areas that I am weaker in and need to change my mindset on.

This year I also put my design business on hold and found full time work elsewhere to survive the struggling economy while still allowing myself to be creative with a few e-design jobs here and there. It hasn't been easy working for someone else again but when I prayed and asked the Lord 'why this job, why now?' of the many I interviewed with, I felt and heard the word 'discipline'. Apparently I needed discipline after years of working for myself from home. Sometimes in life, things happen not because of what we want, but rather what we need.

While I don't make resolutions, I do always create a fresh set of goals for myself. I've noticed over the past few years that I've created laundry lists of all the things I would love to accomplish and every year I fall short on many. I believe in dreaming big and shooting for the stars but sometimes when we create too many goals, we overwhelm ourselves and then instead get very little accomplished. So, this year I've made 3 key personal goals for myself that I believe are doable, but still enough of a stretch to keep me challenged. ;)

Like every classy woman, I'm constantly trying to improve myself and I've discovered some areas in my life that need the rough edges smoothed so I'll be focusing on those too to become a better me. One of those areas will be working to become a more patient person (with both myself and others, especially hubby). I also need to let Paul rub off on me a little more in the spontaneity department. I love to plan and organize, a natural born type A., however, I'm convinced that lightening up and trying more things that scare me will be key to enjoying life in a greater way. One of my downfalls is procrastination over things I don't enjoy and I want to change that this year. The time I spend thinking about how much I don't enjoy doing a particular task and distracting myself with something more interesting is the time I could have just completed the task in the first place. I'm not going to burden myself by expecting perfection, any progress is a beautiful thing!

What are your goals for the New Year?




*images: (1) (2)

Perfect Timing

Hi Everyone! I hope you had a fabulous Christmas celebrating with family and friends remembering to relax and take time for yourself. I'm holding my promise to you of posting more frequently than I have been.

Since we're just 48 hours away from ringing in 2012, I thought it was appropriate to share the importance of action vs. perfection. How many times I haven't promised myself that I'll get back on a 5-day per week gym schedule when I 'have more time' to commit to it or that I'll paint and redecorate our master bedroom when I have a certain amount of money saved up to do so, I have a list of other promises that sound just like these. The truth is that ALL goals consist of mini milestones, no matter how small those steps might be. Momentum is a beautiful thing, each day presents an opportunity to move in the direction of what we desire most. I love this quote above because it reminds us that there really is never a 'perfect' time to do anything in life.

Several years ago, when a colleague-friend of mine found out I had recently got engaged she insisted on one piece of advice-don't hold off on having children by waiting for the 'perfect' time. She appeared sad as she recounted the years she had put off doing that very thing herself in search of that ultimate moment when they might be ready, would have the right amount of income and size of home for baby. After spending years on this quest, the time never made itself known and after many frustrating years, she found out that her insistence on the ideal conditions had left her dream unfulfilled. Every time that I find myself guilty of heading down the same path thought-wise, I remember her advice to me.

Don't let your dreams slip away because you are waiting for the 'perfect' moment to pursue them! Start now by creating your plan of action, schedule small appointments with yourself each day or week to work towards what you want to accomplish most.

Truly the BEST is yet to come! I wish you the greatest success and fulfillment in all you do for 2012! :)

Happy New Year Lovelies! XOXO

*image

Do One Thing Different

One thing I've learned over the years is the fastest way to fall off of a new program or fail to meet a goal is by doing too many things at one time.

Although I've never read the book, only flipped through it briefly, I was always drawn to a book title on my dad's bookshelf by Bill O' Hanlon titled, 'Do One Thing Different'. Of all the books he's owned, I'm not sure why that one stands out  in my mind but that title has come to mind a lot over the past few months and it was only appropriate for today's post title. In my mind, I think the book was meant to be a reminder of the power of focusing on making changes slowly, deliberately and working towards one big goal at a time. Now that I'm revisiting the title and concept, I will finally have to read the book! I actually found a free e-book copy {here}, while looking for the author's name, if anyone else is interested to read it.

It has been proven that we can form new habits in just 28 days. I've personally experienced that to be true in the past. Before I ever became a Personal Trainer 8 years ago, it was my regular workouts and the results that I got that had me excited about teaching others how to get the body they wanted also. Working out 6 days per week for 60-90 mins each day was not even something that I really had to think about after a while. Every morning before work, at about 6:30am I met up with a colleague, who became my workout/ accountability partner and who also wanted to work out in the early morning. Just like that, I had formed a new habit that was as natural to me as brushing my teeth each morning. The key was choosing a time that made the most sense with my schedule. Obviously, this isn't realistic for everyone, especially if you havce children but as a single woman at the time, it was the perfect schedule.

Once we master something that was once difficult, and then becomes like second nature, we can move onto the our next challenge with great success, with recent progress and accomplishment under our belt to build confidence.

Think of New Year's resolutions. Some people go to the extreme- they have grandiose plans of losing a large amount of weight, to quit smoking AND do a cleanse to cut out as much sugar as possible and remove bodily toxins. The word deprivation comes to mind. Our bodies cannot handle so many new changes at one time, we'd only be setting ourselves up for failure with an overly ambitious resolution like this. It's best to do one thing at a time and slowly phase in each new goal after conquering the first.

Everyone's goals are different. Some want to lose 10 lbs or become more organized and yet others want to read more or vow to get at least 6 hours sleep per night. Each of these goals involves a certain level of planning in order to be successful. They need not be drastic changes or ones that make you feel as though you have to rearrange your life in one fell swoop. You can begin by walking for just 15 minutes per day or setting a timer for just 10 minutes of drawer organizing.  However, it's important to start somewhere and have a plan. As they say, if you fail to plan then you plan to fail and boy is that ever true!

Now think about your own life. What things do you want to change? What dreams do you want to achieve? What's one thing right now that you'd love to change or see an improvement in that would make you really happy? Pick just one thing that you want to focus on first, perhaps a smaller or easier goal for yourself to get started.

For me,  the bigger picture is balancing a proper schedule and minimizing distractions (since I can be easily distracted) so that I can get more done in my day and go to sleep/wake up at the hour that I need to. When I go to bed really late, I tend to either get up too early and have less energy before the day has even begun or I'll give myself the extra sleep I need at the expense of shortening my workday and hours of daylight-this has not proven to be helpful in accomplishing all that I want to do in my day.

My ultimate goal is to truly be balanced by spending more time planning my days and designating specific time for design work, writing, blogging, surfing the web, web banking, etc., so that I can become more focused and accomplish my most important tasks. But first, going to bed at a reasonable hour will be my 'one thing different' that needs to precede everything else. No matter how awake I feel or how much work I think I still need to do, bedtime will be 11pm, no ifs ands or buts so I can get up at 6am feeling refreshed and ready to start the day. I'll be honest, lately my bedtimes have been ranging from midnight to 3:30am and my waking hours have been between 5:30am and 10am (for the nights I go to bed at 3:30am). Can you see how this daily pattern can easily become a habit and spiral out of control? lol.

I have been working out lightly in the evenings, mostly to regain strength after an injury I experienced during the end of January. However, learning from my previous fitness success, I know that morning workouts (once completed and out of the way) give me more energy for my day. So, this goal will serve many other areas of my life in a more positive way.

Let's tackle this challenge together, shall we? I'd love for you to join me and commit to doing one thing different for at least the next 7 days and I'd love to hear how it's going for you! It would be great if you could try it out for the next 28 days with me. Take a day or two to get yourself organized or set up for your new goal. I'm beginning tonight and I'll share with you all how it goes.

Here's to getting more out of life by doing just one thing differently!


*images (1),(2),(3)

When We Know Better

Oprah Winfrey has a famous quote she's mentioned on several occasions that she borrowed from one of her beloved friends, Maya Angelou:

"When we know better, we do better."

Isn't that the truth! It is such a simple yet powerful statement. This year, of all the personal and business goals I have set for myself, the most important one is to do better with the knowledge I have. Better than what you might ask? Better than the last year, the last week, the last time, better than before. I want to ask even more questions and research deeper for answers when the  need arises, I want to save more money this year than I did last year because the economy is always uncertain and investing in my family's future instead of the 'here and now' will never be a wrong choice.

I want to exercise harder, eat even healthier because I know what great benefits doing so has upon my life. I want to be an even better friend this year than I have in the past to those that I call my friends. This means listening more, speaking less and arranging more catch up phone dates with long-distance friends.

I know better when it comes to procrastination and as I mentioned in this post, procrastination isn't pretty and it's one of my weaknesses. While I do get a lot done in the average day there are also things I put on the back burner that get pushed aside over and over again (usually because they are things I don't enjoy doing like taxes) and eventually turn into something much bigger or more expensive than they once started out.

With all of this will come more self-discipline, less entertainment time, more writing time, more work and marketing of my business, better planning as well as smarter time management and prioritization.

I believe one of the most important discoveries in life is that of personal growth. The truth is that there are so many times that we all do KNOW better but we don't use that information to DO better almost out of habit. This happens whenever we choose the french fries over the salad, working during the weekend vs. spending time with our spouse and/or kids, watching TV vs. working towards a goal,  or buying a new pair of shoes instead of investing it into our savings account.

Now, obviously this doesn't mean that I'm aiming for perfection or going to completely deprive myself for the next year or forever, nor should anyone, but it does mean I'm going to start challenging myself to make better decisions with the powerful knowledge and resources that I have (and that we all have). Because, at the end of the day the most disappointment in my own life comes from not making the best choices that I could have and from frittering away time on things that are less important than other bigger goals and dreams. Procrastinating on a Sunday night by watching a movie or pulling out my scrapbook supplies is fun and has a place but in the grand scheme of things it isn't really helping me achieve my life goals.

So, no more sticking to a long list of what I'd like to accomplish and then reflecting on it Dec.31st only to realize that I've missed the mark and get frustrated as a result. My yard stick for success and growth this year will be doing better with the toolbox I have and although mistakes will still be made along the way, I'm looking forward to the journey.

How about YOU? What are you planning to change or do differently this year than you did the last? What is your ultimate goal this year?

~Karla

*images (1),(2)

New Year's Resolution Success Secrets

We're just a few short hours away from another New Year's Eve celebration and I was wondering how many of you make New Year's Resolutions?

I came across some statistics on how many of us will actually keep our New Year's resolution and the results were interesting.

New Year's Resolution Statistics

• 40% of all adults make New Year's resolutions
• 71% keep their resolution for 2 weeks
• 64% are able to keep their goal for 1 month
  
• 50% last for 3 months
• 46% make it until the 6 month mark

So, how do we then keep our goals for 2010?

Here are 5 Success Secrets:

1. Keep it Real- Make attainable goals that are realistic for you and where you are at in life. For example, if you plan to run a marathon in the spring and have never even jogged around the block, it is unlikely that you will achieve your resolution. Choosing an unattainable goal is a sure fire way to set yourself up for failure and disappointment.

2. Baby Steps- Sometimes our goals and dreams for the year are so huge that we need to chop them up into bite-sized pieces. If you plan to lose say 40lbs this year, do it in 5lb stages and chart out a course for success where you will feel more empowered and less overwhelmed. You could even reward yourself once you achieve each milestone. If you goal is weight loss though, make you reward something other than food.

3. Plan for Success- Sometimes people get caught up more in the hoopla of resolutions and what other people may want for them, or what others' goals are than what they truly desire for themselves. Hope and will alone will not help you achieve your goal. Without a concrete plan for your success, it is likely that the goal you had will start to become less reachable. Any business owner will tell you that a business plan for the year is key to their success, you need to implement the same sort of plan so you can achieve your personal goal(s).

4. Hold Yourself Accountable- There is no better way to keep yourself held accountable than by sharing your resolution with a friend that will cheer you on, but also kick you in the pants when you need it too. If you live with a roommate; spouse or your children, they can help keep you on track by asking you questions like, "Did you work out for an hour today?". The goals that we keep a secret are the ones that we are less likely to achieve.

5. Get Back on the Horse- Most people who make goals to stop smoking, lose weight, spend more time with family and friends or those who vow to do more volunteer work will slip up every now and then. Life is busy and gets in the way of our goals at times, but even if you eat a huge slice of cake or overfill your calendar one week and can't volunteer, there is always next week to get back on track. There's no reason to call the whole thing off. Girl, just get right back up on that horse and keep on riding!

It is so important to have little rewards to look forward to for meeting each milestone of the larger goals you have, so make time for those and keep them in mind as you work away to reach your dreams. It's always fun to have something to look forward to.

If you don't enjoy making New Year's resolutions or goals for fear of putting too much pressure on yourself, maybe you're simply looking to claim more time back in your life so you can have more YOU time. Here are some inspirational words for you from a previous post as you endeavor to fulfill your dreams and love your life.

What is YOUR New Year's Resolution? I actually just refer to mine as my '2010 goals' and I have many of them vs. just one. To be fair, I'll share mine with you, if you share with me yours. ;) You can always leave an 'anonymous' comment, either way, I'd love to hear from you!

Since I won't talk to you all again until tomorrow, Happy New Year! See you in 2010!